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That Ain’t Right…

Posted on November 19, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

“Nobody ever died from not knowing how to play flag football. Yet we spend tax money teaching kids its nuances in gym classes, while bicycle safety is still foreign to most school curriculums. That ain’t right.”

– Don Cuerdon, cycling writer

I was at a drivers’ education symposium last year, representing a state advocacy/education organization. We were interested to talk with attendees, almost all physical education teachers who handle Driver Education. Our organization offers Smart Cycling, the bicycle curriculum of the League of American Bicyclists. Using the League’s curricula, a number of “off-the-shelf” programs are available, and using those same curricula, we can also tailor a program to meet specific needs.

I was extremely disappointed in the responses we heard. I’m paraphrasing, but here’s the gist of what we heard: “Nice idea, but we don’t have time to fit any more in the curriculum.” “We have all we can handle just getting through the material on driving a car.” “Just about all the kids know how to ride a bike.”

Likewise, some of the other exhibitors with whom we spoke were less than enthusiastic about partnering to talk about bike safety. “Get us a grant to talk about it and we will.” I realize that funding drives a lot of initiatives, but really?

As the writer of the quote said above, “That ain’t right.” The teachers are too busy talking about other things, so there’s no time to talk about behavior that may save lives. Other organizations are talking about pedestrian and motorcycle safety, but won’t add bicycling safety without additional funding.

We weren’t talking about a course in bicycle handling, although we certainly would have been happy to do so. We were talking to them about incorporating awareness of bicyclists as legitimate road users. We wanted to discuss teaching students how to drive alongside bicyclists and what it means to “Share the Road.” We wanted to share a systematic approach to make their students aware that bicyclists have all the duties…and rights…of a motorist, and that motorists need to be aware that their choice of transportation mode does not give them special privileges. But no.

We’ve continued the effort, nonetheless. We crafted a lesson plan for a “Share the Road with Bicyclists” day and made it available on the state’s Driver Education website. We’ve rewritten all the sections of the state drivers’ manual and commercial drivers’ license manuals that apply to bicycles, and submitted those edits to the state DOT for consideration. It is our hope that those manuals will include our edits when they are printed again….

One step at a time, one step at a time.

Motor Vehicle Law: A “Bike’s-Eye” View

Posted on November 3, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

A new course offered by the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition and Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University–New Brunswick provided law enforcement officers in five counties with the training necessary to help them understand how New Jersey’s motor vehicle code applies to bicyclists.

Although New Jersey law explicitly gives bicycle riders the same rights and responsibilities as drivers of motor vehicles, most people, including many police officers, tend to see the traffic flow from the perspective of a motor vehicle operator. According to Les Leathem, Education Coordinator for NJBWC, “in talking to officers around the state, we found that many of them don’t realize the difference in the way traffic appears to a bicyclist. They also did not fully understand the challenges bicyclists face in dealing with motorists.”

Ocean County police officers about to start the road ride

With their seminar, “Title 39: A Bike’s-Eye View,” NJBWC and VTC equipped officers with tools they can use to be more effective in dealing with bicyclists as drivers. The courses, held in Camden, Essex, Middlesex, Ocean, and Passaic Counties in August and September, were also designed to help officers deal with motorists as well, who often do not understand that bicyclists have a right to use the road in the same way that they do.

“This program really helps law enforcement officers understand what it is like to ride a bike on the road. Instead of seeing bikes as ‘in the way,’ the course helps officers understand that bicyclists are another part of traffic,” said Arnold Anderson, Community Traffic Safety Program Coordinator at the Essex County Police Academy.

The course, developed specifically for New Jersey law enforcement officers, first addressed the so-called ‘Three E’s of Traffic Safety’: Education, Engineering, and Enforcement, in a classroom session.

Officers then got on bikes to practice drills to avoid crashes, and to ride on a variety of roads ranging from low-speed, residential streets to major highways. Their time in the saddle also took them along roads with and without shoulders so they could understand how roadway design, traffic and road conditions affect bicyclists. “The real power of this course is its dual approach: classroom discussion helps officers become more aware of the motor vehicle code as it applies to bicyclists.

Teaching officers hazard avoidance drills: the Instant Turn

Then, “getting the officers out from behind the steering wheel of a police car and putting them on two wheels gave them an understanding of how the world looks from the bike saddle,” said Mr. Leathem.

The course was created in consultation with police officers from around the state. Funding was provided by the NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety and the program was administered by the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Classes were created and led by Mr. Leathem, who is also a national coach for the League of American Bicyclists, and by police officers who are LAB League Cycling Instructors as well.

Looking, but not seeing

Posted on October 29, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

“In the city, ride like you’re invisible. As if nobody can see you. Because a huge percentage of the time, nobody can.”

Jason Makapagal, bicycle messenger

The Crash

And that seems to be what happened last week at a school near me. A police officer friend called to let me know of the crash:

The bicyclist was riding in the right lane of a road with two lanes going in her direction. She saw a car in the driveway of the school waiting to enter the roadway. The motorist looked towards her, and the bicyclist believed that she had made eye contact with the motorist. Apparently, though, the motorist didn’t see the bicyclist, and began to edge out into the street to make a left turn immediately in front of the bicycle driver…

The bicyclist swerved to avoid the crash. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

But here’s the rub. The motorist didn’t see the bicyclist. Even though the bicyclist looked right at her, and was in the right lane, where she was supposed to be. She did everything right, and still almost got nailed.

Looking, But Not Seeing

Many motorists look, but don’t see. Let me explain. We all have filters. It’s the way our minds work. Without them, we could not focus on the important things around us. We couldn’t differentiate sounds. For example; ambient noise would be no more or less noticeable than the conversation we’re in, and no different from the sound of the fire engine’s siren coming up behind us. Our brains have evolved to help us sort out the things that matter. The same thing happens visually. Without any filters, the page-turning of the person sitting next to you in the plane would have no more or less importance than the bag about to tumble out of the overhead bin into your lap.

In the same way, a motorist filters the environment, searching for things that matter. It is vitally important for a driver to know when a car or truck is coming down the road before he/she comes out of a driveway into a travel lane. So he looks, doesn’t see any cars, and proceeds out into the roadway. “Oh, no! There was a bicyclist there! I didn’t see her!”

The reality of that situation is that even though the motorist saw the bicyclist, his brain filtered out the bicyclist. So even though the bicyclist WAS in fact in the motorist’s field of vision, his brain considered and discarded that part of the picture. Now you’re questioning what I’m talking about…Want to see it for yourself? Go here to see what I’m talking about. Really. Take a couple of minutes to watch this video. I’ll wait…

OK, you’re back. That was fun, wasn’t it? Did you fall for it?

Most people fail the test in the video. If you didn’t go take the test, you really should. I’ll give you another chance here.

What happened to you is probably the same thing that happened in the incident I used to start this post. The motorist looked, but didn’t see what was right in front of her.

The Moral

The moral of the story: Please look around you. Please SEE what’s around you. Let’s watch out for each other.

Melancholy…no

Posted on October 20, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

“More than any other emotion, melancholy is incompatible with bicycling.”

–James E. Starrs, The Noiseless Tenor

What he said. I’ve ridden my bike at various times with various emotions and feelings: in happiness and in uncertainty. With vigor and in deep tiredness. Mindless and mindful. Hot, cold, wet, dry. With riding companions, and alone. And it just about always changes me. Sometimes just a bit, and sometimes a lot. My spirits are lifted. My body rejoices in the motion. My mind clears. There is no room for melancholy.

I have often found that riding brings me into a mindful state. It is much the same as meditation. I guess you could say it’s a physical meditation, perhaps the same as that achieved when walking a labyrinth. On long rides, in particular, the repetitive motion of turning the pedals in a cadence of the body creates a rhythm in the mind and spirit. Much like a mantra, or the rosary for Catholics, a ride becomes a repetitive and contemplative prayer.

It’s not always that. I remember, after my crash in 2012, when the doctor finally said I could get back on my bike. Because of the way that crash happened I never went through any feeling of fear in getting back on that horse: I had fallen; I didn’t hit anything or anyone, and I was not hit. I have absolutely no memory surrounding the crash. So when I actually got on my bike, it was with anticipation and excitement. That was the most emotional ride I’ve ever done. I was so filled with joy I almost couldn’t contain it.

My wife sat home in fear, hoping that all was well. And it most certainly was. When I got home, she told me the look on my face was one of childish glee and excitement.

And sometimes it’s a test. For example, when the wind blows at me hard and forces me to work for every tenth of a mile. Or the thunderstorm starts when I’m halfway through a ride. Or up that climb once again. On those days it’s all about my body. I feel every turn of the cranks. I feel the air going into and out of my lungs. I feel the muscles in my legs.

And sometimes, a bike ride is just a bike ride.

But most of the time, a ride just fixes “it.” Whatever “it” is. I return home more at peace. Maybe more tired, or maybe less so. But always recharged and ready for whatever it is that comes next.

See you on the bike!

Changing minds…a few at a time

Posted on October 8, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

As an avid road bike rider, one thing I began to think more and more about was law: specifically, the intersection between motorists and bicyclists. Then, I joined the League of American Bicyclists and took a course that talked about driving my bicycle. That course codified the need for bicyclists to follow the same principles that motorists follow on the road.

New Jersey law, like the law in every other state, explicitly gives bicycle riders the same rights and responsibilities as drivers of motor vehicles. Many motorists do not understand this. Even most police officers, including those focused on traffic enforcement, have the perspective of a motor vehicle operator. Talking to officers around the state, I learned that many of them do not realize how different traffic appears to a bicyclist. They also did not fully understand the challenges bicyclists face in dealing with motorists.

So, I created a course designed to teach New Jersey law enforcement officers exactly how NJ motor vehicle law applies to bicyclists. I thought at the time that the best way to get officers to understand what it’s like to drive a bike would probably be…to get them on bikes.

The course addressed the “Three E’s of Traffic Safety:” Education, Engineering, and Enforcement, in the classroom. Then, I got them on bikes to practice hazard avoidance drills, and to ride on a variety of roads ranging from low-speed, residential streets to major highways, on roads with and without shoulders so they could understand how roadway design, traffic and road conditions affect bicyclists. I was fortunate to conduct the course in Camden, Essex, Middlesex, Ocean, and Passaic Counties in August and September, reaching 48 officers. I taught it with another League Cycling Instructor, who is also an active police officer and bicycle racer. He was able to provide the police perspective to his colleagues. It also helped that he was up front teaching rather than just some guy (me) trying to tell cops how to do their job…

The dual approach made the program work. Classroom discussion helped officers become more aware of how motor vehicle code applies to bicyclists. The “Aha!” moments started, though, once the officers got out from behind the steering wheel of a police car and onto two wheels.

As the experts on traffic law, officers have an intellectual understanding that bicyclists have the same rights and duties as motorists. But, honestly, getting them on the bikes made the difference. Many of the 48 officers who participated in the course commented on this to me. I heard things like, “I have a new respect for people who ride bikes now,” and “Now I understand what it’s like to try to ride on these roads.” I also heard, “I’m not visible on the bike unless I take the lane and ride in traffic,” and “It really does work better when I behave more like a car.”

My hope is that I’ve planted a seed.

It was a crash…it was no accident!

Posted on September 20, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

“The problem is that you can be wounded in your mind as well as your physique.”

— Marco Pantani

Yeah, a bike crash can do that. The body (usually) heals just fine, thank you. But there’s a mind game going on, too.

I’m thinking about this again because a friend of mine was recently involved in a bike crash. The husband and wife were riding on a trail. At a road crossing, motorists stopped to let them cross the road. Someone in a car in the line decided that he wasn’t going to wait. So he swung out onto the shoulder on the right side of the lane and accelerated past everyone else…right into the husband on the bike.

The collision was at 40mph. Had the bicyclist’s right foot been a little further in the pedalstroke, the front bumper would have hit him in the leg. He probably would have lost his leg, given the speed of collision. Thank God that didn’t happen but of course, there are multiple other wounds now. After shattering the windshield and flying through the air before hitting the ground, he has a broken scapula, tears in both knees, tingling in his hands from the blow when he hit the ground on his head, a hematoma in his hip that will take 8 months to heal, damage to rib cartilage that allows his ribs to just pop in and out of place. Those are the ones they know about now. He’s still going from doctor to doctor so they can figure out if there’s anything else going on!

Think that’s all? Nope. His wife, who was riding right behind him at the time, got to watch him fly across the hood, smash the windshield, go airborne, and land on his head. She’s wounded, too. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally she’s having a hard time.

And the motorists who watched the whole scene play out in front of them? I’m sure some of them keep seeing it over and over, too.

And why did this happen? Because an egocentric, impatient motorist COULDN’T WAIT A FEW SECONDS to get through an intersection. He felt entitled to ignore the rule of law, normal caution and common courtesy because everyone else was in his way.

I hope he replays that day and that moment, too. I hope that the hurt he caused teaches him a little bit about awareness, about compassion, and makes him realize that he is NOT the center of the universe. If even just a little of this happens, then something good may yet come out of this.

I’ve been helping out the couple, being an ear when needed, bringing dinners when I can so there’s one less thing for them to think about. I know how the presence of friends and the outpouring of love, prayers, and thought can change things. I know how much the little things can mean.

I pray for their recovery. I pray for a change of heart in the motorist who did this. I pray that everyone who was there during and after is changed for the better. It’s a lot, I know, but I won’t stop caring.

I’ve talked about crashes in an earlier post. If you’d like to read on, try this one: “I just crashed! (hypothetically)“

The day my eyes opened

Posted on June 13, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

“I had been familiar with that street for years, and supposed it was dead level: But it was not, as the bicycle now informed me to my surprise. The bicycle, in the hands of a novice, is as alert and acute as a spirit-level in the detecting and vanishing shades of difference in these matters. It notices a rise where your untrained eye would not observe that one existed.”
⎯ Mark Twain, Taming the Bicycle

Yeah. That. The things you see, and learn, when you ride a bike:

The way the road rises and falls, and makes you work harder to keep going…it’s the kind of thing you can’t appreciate, or even notice, when driving a car. The slight turn to the left that keeps you from seeing the next intersection…and when you were in your car, you thought it was a perfectly straight road. Those seemingly tiny imperfections in the road surface when you’re in a car, that loom large against the narrow tires of a road bike.

Your perception changes. The way you see things becomes somehow a bit more…granular? Precise? Detailed?

Another, much more significant, change in perception for me occurred right after I took a basic course in bicycle riding. It was the League of American Bicyclists’ Traffic Skills 101. I took it along with a friend; both of us wanted to become instructors, and the TS101 course was a prerequisite. We both wondered on our drive to the course: We’ve been riding bikes for years. We’ve done short rides, long rides, rides for fun, rides for charity, week-long rides…you name it. What can we learn in this course?

We learned that our way of looking at riding changed. Yes, the course went through some basics (much of which we knew at least as well as the instructors), but then made us rethink our relationship with other drivers. We gained the confidence to DRIVE our bicycles. We learned that the more confidence we showed on the road, the more respect we got as road users! And we learned some skills that would serve us well in avoiding the mistakes of other drivers.

I find, too, that the way I drive a car has changed. The increased awareness of the road, of other road users, of the need to communicate and negotiate with other drivers (on 2, 3, 4 wheels or more) all play into an increased presence of mind when I’m driving.

Try it. I challenge you to get on a bike and drive it. See if it changes you, just a little bit…

Seattle

Posted on May 29, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

I just got back from a multi-day trip to Seattle, WA. A beautiful, friendly place. We thoroughly enjoyed so much of the city: the parks, the food, the Market…the list goes on. Seattle is also one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the country. Bikes are everywhere. Bike racks are available just about everyplace you visit. Parking garages routinely have bike corrals/bike parking.

We also experienced, for the first time, a number of different types of bicycle accommodations: protected bike lanes, two-way bike lanes on one-way streets, separate signals for bicycle drivers, two-stage left-turn boxes…most of which are not available where we live. Multi-modal transportation is encouraged: bike racks on buses, acceptance of bikes carried onto light rail. In spite of all this, though, I left feeling ambivalent about bicycle infrastructure.

In many ways, it seemed a great idea. The availability of all these accommodations may be a part of the reason the place is so bicycle-friendly…or may be the result. I can’t say which is causal. Perhaps neither is.

I also saw a lot of bad bicycle driving: Wrong-way riding (and no, not just in the contraflow bike lanes!). Bicyclists ignoring red lights. Roadies speeding through intersections and almost hitting pedestrians who had the right of way.

As in many citites, there’s a bike-share program. Like in New York, lots of bikes available in the downtown area, and in heavily-touristed areas, and not so many (or no availability) in areas where people could use them for transportation.

So from my long-weekend-length impression, I’m left with the feeling that there’s so much potential for amazing things. Cities like Seattle have gone so much further than most. But we’ve still got a long way to go. Bicycles can do so much for us: for our bodies, for our minds, for our economies, for our cities, for our planet.

We still need to educate people about how to drive their bicycles. We need to educate city planners/engineers about how to create efficient and safe infrastructure. We need to educate motorists about how to share the road. We need to educate pedestrians about how to negotiate the newer types of infrastructure that are being created.

In short, we need to educate.

Who pays for the roads, anyway?

Posted on April 9, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

A friend asked a question on facebook yesterday. She wanted an objective, fact-based response to the argument some people start about bicycle riders: “Bicyclists don’t pay for roads so they shouldn’t use them.” This argument seems logical to many, but in fact, is completely off-base.

First, there is no such thing as a road tax. All of us pay taxes to support the functions of government. One of those is creation and maintenance of a transportation system. I hear you saying, “But gas taxes pay for roads.” Yes, gas taxes do contribute to infrastructure development and maintenance. But in many places (notably here in New Jersey) the gas tax got rolled into the general fund. And the general fund is used to pay for anything for which the government chooses to use it. It is NOT dedicated to infrastructure construction and maintenance. Also, gas taxes, even if they were dedicated to road costs, would not cover the cost of construction and maintenance. So a significant portion of the funds would still have to come from the general fund.

In almost all places where bicycle riders are on the road, the local government handles road construction, or at least maintenance. Funds for the local government come mainly from…property and/or sales taxes. So anyone who owns property or buys anything is actually paying for the road.

And county and state roads are mostly funded by…income or sales taxes. So anyone who works or buys anything pays for the roads.

And Federal highways are funded by the US government. And the Federal government is funded by…income tax.

So anyone who works, or owns property, or buys anything pays for the roads. Wow, that changes perspective, doesn’t it?

Now back to the original proposition (that bicycle riders don’t pay for roads). Quiz: do bicycle riders own cars? Almost all do. So they do pay gas tax, like everyone else who drives a motor vehicle. They bought those cars, and groceries, and clothes, so they also paid sales tax, too. They probably work somewhere to get the income to buy all these things, so they pay income tax, too.

Oh…sounds like that argument just doesn’t hold up, doesn’t it?

Close Call

Posted on February 24, 2015December 19, 2020 by ljleathem

“Wow, that car almost hit me!”

“…that $#^^#*@ threw a soda bottle at me as he went past!”

Most of us have experienced close calls, if not exactly one of those two scenarios, then one just as unsettling or dangerous. Your heart races, and flashes of what might have happened go through your mind. Now there’s a place we all go to report problem motorists. A database called “Close Call” has been established to help identify them.

Let’s say a car comes up behind your group cycling on hilly, narrow rural roads. The driver pulls up close to the last rider, backs off, then does it over and over. She tries to pass, but since the roads are narrow and hilly she can’t get around you without taking a chance that a car may be coming in the opposite direction just around that corner. Eventually, she pulls out and floors it, taking a chance with her own life, and with the lives of the riders in your group.

You call the local police, and are told that since the officer was not there to see what happened, it’s your word against hers. Therefore, they won’t do anything…

This is not a hypothetical. It happened to me and some friends.

The reality of that situation is that this is probably not the first time that motorist did this. And it probably will not be the last. The Close Call Database can provide a means of tracking such drivers. After a close call, you can log in to report the incident. Enter as much data as you have, and information about it will be shared with cyclists in your area. When others report an incident, you’ll get information on that, too. Serial offenders will be identified, and police will be contacted.

In addition, the database being built will give police information so that if a future incident occurs with one of those same drivers, there will be evidence to show that no, it wasn’t just a one-time lapse of judgment.

So do yourself…and your fellow riders…a service and register on the database. Go to the Close Call Database. We’ll all be glad you did.